The present invention relates to computer peripheral devices and more particularly to an apparatus for performing photographic slide handling functions automatically under computer control.
According to prior studies published by Hope Reports, a marketing research firm in Rochester, N.Y., 2.times.2 inch slides are primary audiovisual (AV) medium. Slides are basic and fundamental, a standard tool for a speech, a presentation, a training session, or other communication function. They offer convenience, flexibility, low capital investment, quick production turnaround, ease in updating, sophisticated effects when required, yet demand less technical training and manpower than other AV media.
There have been great strides made in the generation of slide transparencies by computer graphics. Furthermore, slide projectors have been automated with computer controllers for multi-image, multi-projector slide shows. The area that has been neglected is in the handling of the slides.
There has been a long-felt need in the AV industry for a cost-effective way to edit slides, store and retrieve them, and assemble slide programs for projection. All of these labor-intensive functions are done manually today. According to Hope Reports, misordering and inverted images are the most common projection errors. Hope Reports has states that:
The chief remaining roadblock for slides has been related to slide handling. This includes storage and retrieval as well as sorting and tray-loading for projection.
Prior devices do exist for automating some slide handling functions. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,329, "Apparatus for Viewing and Sorting Photographic Slide Transparencies," granted on Feb. 10, 1981 to Owen L. Lamb, there is described an apparatus for viewing and sorting photographic slides into storage bins. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,738, "Slide Previewer and Tray Loader," granted on July 13, 1982 to Owen L. Lamb, there is described a mechanism by which slides may be previewed and sorted into compartments of a circular slide tray. These devices still require a substantial amount of manual slide handling, and do not provide for the storage and retrieval of slides.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a computer-controlled automatic slide handling system.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus which will enable one to quickly sort through slides in storage to find particular slides, preview the slides, load them into a tray for projection, and after projection, to rapidly return the slides to their original storage place for future retrieval.